IOWA CITY, Iowa -- The University of Iowa softball team concludes fall practice this week with the Grey-Gold World Series at Pearl Field. The Hawkeyes will hold a best-of-three-game intrasquad series beginning Thursday. Game one will be held Thursday from 9:30 to 11 a.m. The second contest will take place from 4:15 to 6 p.m. on Friday and the final game will be held on Saturday from 12:30 to 3 p.m. All three are open to the public.

The Hawkeyes fell to Kirkwood Community College last Friday in eight innings, 5-3. Iowa led the contest, 3-0, through seven complete before giving up five runs in the eighth on two costly errors. Junior Kayla Massey pitched five no-hit innings to open the game, and sophomore Megan Blank hit a long ball in the first.

"We were off balance in the first game and did not make enough adjustments," said UI head coach Marla Looper. "We had too many fly outs. We still led the contest late, but did not shut the door."

Iowa swept Concordia-St. Paul on Sunday in a doubleheader. The Hawkeyes claimed game one, 4-3, before routing the Golden Bears in game two, 9-2.

"We played a solid ball game and had some timely hits in the opener," said Looper. "We came out firing on all cylinders in the second game.

"We progressed as the weekend went on. The challenge was to continue to attack, and we did a nice job of that overall. When we are clicking, we are really fun to watch and look like a championship-caliber team."